Sama/Bajau Research

We are proud to announce that for the first time, the Central Sinama to English Dictionary is available for download as an app from Google Play. This dictionary has a wealth of information on the Sinama language. Version 1.0 has 13,325 entries in Sinama and 10,455 English reversal entries. The work of compiling this dictionary […]

A Question about South Ubian that Site Visitors Often Ask I have relatives (pamikitan) with their roots originating from South Ubian, an island and also one of the municipalities of Tawi-Tawi. Many of the Sama Ubian with roots from this island have become quite successful, especially in Sabah. I assume that the links and traffic […]

We want them to be called Badjao, others want Pala’u, what about Sama Dilaut? The topic of this post was resolved for me way back in 2010 when I started learning the Sinama language. I learned Sinama from Sama Siasi. Mainly Sama Musu’ and Sama Silompak. However I frequented the communities of Sama Dilaut as well. […]

I was privileged to be in attendance at the 1st International Conference on the Sama Dilaut hosted by Mindanao State University Tawi-Tawi. My three days in Tawi-Tawi (December 1-3) were spent surrounded by scholars, political leaders and activists, teachers, school administrators, NGOs, artists, Sama from various linguistic sub-groups including the Sama Dilaut, and a wide […]

On the website Tausug 101, Anak Ilu has been posting wordlists as part of his teaching the Tausug language to those who want to learn. Here is a post that his readers could appreciate. I have been studying Ethnographic Research Methods and for a unit on kinship, with the help of my brother Paul and […]

Problems with identifying what language the Badjao speak (For help identifying Sinama languages and dialects please refer to the webmaster’s academic article, Language Features and Simple Methods to Help the Non-Linguist Navigate the Sinama Languages and Dialects [Edit 7-2-18]) When asking Sama from Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, or Zamboanga what language do the Badjao speak, their […]

The following is a Badjao Swadesh Wordlist collected from a man named Gunani, living on a houseboat near the island Pulu Gaya, Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. Gunani is better described as a Sama Dilaut or a Sama Pala’u. Pala’u refers to the fact that he lives on a houseboat with his family. Gunani is somewhere between […]

Lessons learned about Sama & Badjao Diving Badjao diving has received a lot of attention from several documentaries about the ocean and the Badjao tribe. I’ve met scientists that have come to take data with a focus only on the “Badjao” people. Sadly this overlooks that the Badjao are actually part of a larger group, […]

Badjao have become famous internationally for their unique culture and capabilities, even though Badjao is not even the term the Sama Dilaut use for themselves. The complications this has caused will teach you a unique lesson that is important for city governments, community health workers, NGOs, hospitals and other aid workers when interacting with indigenous people of their nation.